Cloud Digital Leader
Certification exam guide
A Cloud Digital Leader can articulate the capabilities of Google Cloud core products and services and how they benefit organizations. The Cloud Digital Leader can also describe common business use cases and how cloud solutions support an enterprise. The Cloud Digital Leader exam is job-role agnostic and does not require hands-on experience with Google Cloud.
Section 1: Digital Transformation with Google Cloud (approximately 10% of the exam)
1.1 Why Cloud Technology is Transforming Business ● Explain why and how the cloud is
revolutionizing businesses. ○ Define the terms:
cloud, cloud technology, data, digital transformation,
cloud-native, open source, open standard. ○ Describe the
differences between cloud technology and traditional or
on-premises technology. ○ Explain the
benefits of cloud technology to a business’ digital
transformation: this technology is scalable, flexible,
agile, secure, cost-effective and offers strategic
value. ○ Describe the
primary benefits of on-premises infrastructure, public
cloud, private cloud, hybrid cloud, and multicloud and
differentiate between them. ○ Describe the main
business transformation benefits of Google Cloud:
intelligence, freedom, collaboration, trust, and
sustainable technology. ○ Describe the
implications and risks for organizations that do not
adopt new technology. ○ Describe the
drivers and challenges that lead organizations to
undergo a digital transformation. ○ Describe the
transformation cloud and how it accelerates an
organization’s digital transformation through app and
infrastructure modernization, data democratization,
people connections, and trusted transactions. 1.2 Fundamental Cloud Concepts ● Explain general cloud concepts.
○ Describe how
transitioning to a cloud infrastructure affects
flexibility, scalability, reliability, elasticity,
agility, and total cost of ownership (TCO). Apply these
concepts to various business use cases. ○ Explain how an
organization’s transition from an on-premises
environment to the cloud shifts their capital
expenditures (CapEx) to operational expenditures (OpEx),
and how that affects their total cost of ownership
(TCO). ○ Identify when
private, hybrid, or multicloud infrastructures best
apply to different business use cases. ○ Define basic
network infrastructure terminology, including: IP
address; internet service provider (ISP); domain name
server (DNS), regions, and zones; fiber optics; subsea
cables; network edge data centers, latency; and
bandwidth. ○ Discuss how Google
Cloud supports digital transformation with global
infrastructure and data centers connected by a fast,
reliable network. 1.3 Cloud Computing Models and Shared Responsibility
● Discuss the benefits and
tradeoffs of using infrastructure as a service (IaaS);
platform as a service (PaaS); and software as a service
(SaaS). ○ Define IaaS, PaaS,
and SaaS. ○ Compare and
contrast the benefits and tradeoffs of IaaS, PaaS, and
SaaS including total cost of ownership (TCO),
flexibility, shared responsibilities, management level,
and necessary staffing and technical expertise. ○ Determine which
computing model (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS) applies to various
business scenarios and use cases. ○ Describe the cloud
shared responsibility model. Compare which
responsibilities are the cloud provider’s, and which
responsibilities are the customer’s for on-premises and
cloud computing models (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS).
Section 2: Innovating with data and Google Cloud (approximately 30% of the exam)
2.1 Describe the role of data in digital transformation
and the importance of a data-driven culture ● Explain how cloud technology
enables data to be applied in new ways 2.2 Identify common Google Cloud solutions for data
management ● Recognize examples of structured
and unstructured data 2.3. Identify common Google Cloud solutions for smart
analytics ● Articulate the business benefits
of storing data in the cloud ● Apply appropriate business use
cases for databases, data warehouses, and data
lakes ● Explain the benefits of Google
Cloud data products, including: Looker, BigQuery, Cloud
Spanner, Cloud SQL, Cloud Storage 2.4. Identify Google Cloud’s solutions for machine
learning and AI ● Define artificial intelligence
(AI) and machine learning (ML) ● Outline the importance of data
quality in ML prediction accuracy ● Describe Google Cloud’s
differentiators with regard to AI and machine
learning ● Recognize the ways customers can
use Google Cloud’s AI and ML solutions to create
business value
Section 3: Infrastructure and application modernization (approximately 30% of the exam)
3.1 Learn what modernizing IT infrastructure with
Google Cloud means ● Explain why legacy infrastructure
struggles to deliver modern services to customers
● Explain the benefits of
modernizing infrastructure with cloud technology ● Differentiate between hybrid and
multicloud infrastructures ● Differentiate between virtual
machines, containers, and serverless computing within
business use cases ● Identify the Google Cloud
solutions that help businesses modernize their
infrastructure 3.2 Understand modernizing applications with
Google Cloud ● Describe the business drivers for
modernizing applications ● Describe the benefits of using
cloud-native applications ● Apply the appropriate change
pattern to different business use cases ● Explain the benefits of Google
Kubernetes Engine, Anthos, and App Engine for
application development 3.3 Understand the value of APIs ● Explain how application
programming interfaces (APIs) can modernize legacy
systems ● Describe how APIs can create new
business value ● Explain the benefits of Apigee
Section 4: Understanding Google Cloud security and operations (approximately 30% of the exam)
4.1 Describe financial governance in the cloud and
Google Cloud's recommended best practices for effective
cloud cost management ● Explain how adopting cloud
technology affects the total cost of ownership
(TCO) ● Identify the cost management
strategy needed in a given business scenario 4.2 Describe a cloud security approach and Google Cloud
security benefits ● Define fundamental cloud security
terms, including privacy, availability, security, and
control ● Explain what is meant by a shared
responsibility model ● Describe the security benefits of
using Google Cloud ● Identify today's top
cybersecurity challenges and threats to data privacy ● Demonstrate how organizations can
control and manage access to cloud resources 4.3 Explain how IT operations need to adapt to thrive
in the cloud ● Differentiate service
availability requirements in the cloud versus in
on-premises environments ● Describe the operational
challenges that DevOps solves ● Apply the goals of site
reliability engineering (SRE) to different business use
cases 4.4 Identify Google Cloud solutions for cloud resource
monitoring and application performance management
● Explain the potential impact of
unexpected or prolonged downtime ● Define monitoring, logging, and
observability within the context of cloud
operations ● Identify the Google Cloud
resource monitoring and maintenance tools.